Wednesday 6th July 2005 Zerben to Rothensee.

Newly widened section of canal nr Burg

11.5º C overnight. Grey, overcast and quite cold all morning, warming up and brightening up in the afternoon. We set off early at 7.45 a.m. as we were all ready to go. Rosy in front for most of the way. Some WSA men were working along the bank between the dolphins for commercial moorings. I did the chores first thing, sitting out on the stern around nine o’clock. While I’d been busy, Mike and Bill had been having a birdwatching morning. They’d seen cranes and lots of birds of prey. There seems to be a

Dredging works nr Burg and loads of traffic

concerted effort to attract the latter here, with many poles for bird perches along the edges of fields on both banks of the canal. During the widening process a big bend of the canal had been bypassed completely between KP 340 to 342, straightening the channel. In a field, close by an impressively dilapidated farmhouse, there was a wooden ladder structure with two very large birds of prey perched on top. We guessed it must be a nest the way they both flew short distances away from it one at a time. They both had pale

Bridge inspection time

shoulders and necks, the only birds in my book which looked vaguely like them were Imperial eagles. More widening in progress at KP 335, where two dredging boats were at work, with large JCBs on pontoons shovelling the bottom around. A loaded boat, called Bille from Hamburg, went past as we had just negotiated our way around the first dredger. The canal had been reduced to half its width where the dredgers were working. By the next dredger Bill was passing an empty 80m boat, called Roger from Jerichow, which

A tug in a hurry - look at the wash!!

looked huge at such close range. We passed an unusual looking Polish tanker as we went under the first bridge at Burg, where the canal narrowed and was piled both sides. A new cycle path had been made along the right bank with wooden fencing to prevent people falling in the canal. Bill told us on VHF there was a group of his favourite type of outdoor enthusiasts walking the cycle path (sorry to say this but they really get his goat as they always look like posers!), three power walkers complete with ski poles! It was 9.35 a.m. as we

Niegripp lock, access on to the river Elbe
Technical details for Niegripp and all the other waterway structures in the area

went through the town. A new mooring area had been made in a basin, where there was also a boatyard, and further on a 50m section of the new piling had also been designated as a mooring for Sport boats (that’s us). As always there were several kilometres for commercials to tie to, but none were moored there. We were overtaken by a police boat, WSP08, as we were halfway through the narrow section. As we went past the end of the Niegripper Altkanal (which was blocked off by workboats) the 44m spits Glückauf went past

Hohenwarthe shaft locks leading to aqueduct over the Elbe
technical details of Hohenwarthe locks

again loaded with sand. We saw him a week ago, on the Sacrow-Paretzer-kanal, taking sand towards Berlin. The entrance to the Altkanal was through an old gravel pit 2 kms further on. Just beyond that there was a huge pile of sand and several conveyors were moving it from one pile to another. The man in the loading crane waved, his conveyor was still running too, making a large pile behind the crane. This must be where all the boat loads of sand are coming from! Minutes later we passed the arm off to the right where the lock at Niegripp gives

Bottom end guillotine gate in the shaft lock

access on to the Elbe and what used to be a basin now has a short lock cut leading to the new twin shaft locks at Hohenwarte. There were lots of WSA and contract work boats moored and milling about. The space for Sport mooring to wait for the lock was occupied by an accommodation boat and a tug. A WSA tug called Ren had pulled out from the basin and was heading for the lock, so we followed him. The right hand chamber was working, the left was still under construction, (or being repaired), as the lock mouth was stanked off above and below the chamber. The skipper from the tug came to tell us we should moor where the designated Sport mooring was or the police would fine us. He was being helpful. We followed him into the chamber once a Polish tug and pan, followed by a smart fishing boat styled cruiser, cleared the lock. He went almost to the front of the chamber and lashed on to a floater with one rope (he was working

Waiting area above the lock, cruisers crammed in the Sport area

singlehanded). We had already tied the two boats together while we were waiting for the lock to empty and so we went in still breasted up. A female voice on the tannoy said something unintelligible as we ran along the right hand wall, then I spotted the floaters were all on the left, there were none on the right hand wall, so we changed direction and, as he was on the left, Bill slung a centre rope round one of a pair of floaters close together. I put a short rope around Bill’s side cleat and found the floating bollard was very high, making it possible for Bill’s fore end rope to get jammed in the track for the floater so I took it off again. I spotted a section of yellow

Cruisers doing a mad dash for the lock

painted rail below the bollard (put there for small cruisers to tie to, no doubt) and went to transfer the rope on to that, but the incoming water beat me to it and blew the boats off the wall, but not for long. I put Bill’s long fore end line around the bollard as soon as we drew back level with it. The water was coming in directly below our bows. It pulled strongly towards the back of the lock each time the paddles from the different levels of economiser pounds opened. The 18.5m deep lock chamber filled slowly. The lady spoke again several

Rosy at the end of the aqueduct over the Elbe
read here more info on the aqueduct

times on the tannoy, but we couldn’t hear her properly or understand what she said. A crowd of gongoozlers were stood by the top end drop down gate. They all waved and shouted hello as we went past. I joked that they must have just dropped off a bus load when I saw the coach parked by the lock! A trip boat was coming across the aqueduct with another load of tourists to look at the new structures. Before we got to the aqueduct there was a sign (in German) which said Sport boats must cross in convoy following a working boat, or call the lock keeper on 26. We kept going – they knew

Moored above Rothensee boat lift
click to read about the boat lift

we didn’t speak German, the tug had tied up above the lock (so there was nothing to follow), there was nothing else moving and we were a convoy of two anyway. It was 12.20 p.m. when we tied up, bows to bows, on the waiting area for Sport boats above Rothensee boat lift, which operates mainly just for trip boats now that it has been replaced by the aqueduct and two new locks (one on to the river Elbe and one down on to the Elbe-Havel-Kanal). I made Mike some lunch while he got the moped off the roof and  got ready to go and get the car. While we were tying up Bill had asked if we were going shopping in Magdeburg and going to the Internet café. Good idea. Mike returned

A tug with five pans, total length 185m, carrying around 2,500 tonnes

at 4 p.m. with the car. We took Bill with us into Magdeburg to look for a supermarket. Mike had looked when he went into the city earlier on the moped, but had only found a shopping centre, the Allee Center – so we headed for that expecting there to be a supermarket included. There was, but it was a Netto (a discounter about the same as an Aldi). We got the minimum basics and took the bags back to the car then went back to buy a microphone (9,99€ for a single earpiece type) from Saturn (an excellent multimedia shop) for playing with voice-recognition software . Paid 30c for parking in the multi-storey car park and went to find the Internet café in the city centre. Found it quite easily, parked for free in the street as it was after 6 p.m. It had nice new PCs, but the pop music was a bit loud and the lighting was mainly blue UV. We had an hour or so, did the bank statements and phone bill. Paid 1,90€ for the hour plus two printed sheets and set off

Museum piece at Magdeburg

home. On the way Mike paused by the docks. He’d spotted some trains when he came into the city on the moped and they turned out to be museum pieces. He’d brought the camera with him and took photos (for Glyn, he said, but he wanted copies for himself – and so did Bill for his mate Frank, who’s also a railway enthusiast). The first one looked like Thomas the Tank Engine with muscles, painted a smart black and red. There were also dock shunters, the like I’d never seen before. On the far side of the rails was an old dock, devoid of boats except for an old bucket dredger rotting away in the middle of the high walled basin, tethered there by long wire hawsers from the bank. Mike walked on taking pictures. To my surprise, Bill hopped into the driving seat and drove the car down the road along the tracks so Mike didn’t

Museum piece at Magdeburg

have the long walk back. It was 8 p.m. by the time we got back to the boats. A small cruiser had moored behind Rosy and two passenger boats were moored behind us, ropes from the stern of one were across our counter, so Mike moved us forward by a couple of feet until we were fender to fender with Rosy. A tug and five pans reversed into the arm to the boat lift and tied on the opposite bank to us. Mike had to go and take a few photos, we’d never seen five pans in a tow before. The skipper (the tug was from EHS!) saw Mike taking photos and told him it was 185m long – a bit left over in the big locks then! 40m, enough to get a péniche in behind him, should one venture this far across Germany (we know that there have been péniches here, we know that the Pedro, which belongs to Roy and Carole Sycamore, once took on a load for Magdeburg at the bourse without knowing exactly where it was when they first started carrying) 

Tuesday 5th July 2005 Wusterwitz to Zerben.

Police boat out for repair

12.9º C overnight. Wet, cold and miserable. Mike had to get out of bed and take the mast down at 2.30 a.m. as the wind had picked up and it was raining hard. It was still raining heavily when we set off at 8.30 a.m. Michael B had left about an hour earlier, but the loaded 57m boat, called Alte Heidelberg, that had arrived later last night was still tied on the dolphins furthest from the lock. A tug pushing three pans had just come up the lock before we set off, we hoped he was going to go faster than us. We hadn’t been going long, I was making some toast, when an 81m empty called Tina-Marie overtook us. There seemed to be a more or less constant stream of loaded sand boats heading towards Berlin. We met one named

Floating fire appliance

Goldberg at the end of a newly widened stretch of canal at KP 365.5, closely followed by a Bromberger tug called Navrgarz 2, pushing a panful of sand. At KP 365 we found the quay where all the boats we saw earlier in the week must have loaded up with scrap wood for re-cycling. Today there was no one around, no boats either, and only a few small piles of scrap wood. The next pan of sand was being pushed by another Polish Bizon

WSA accommodation boat

tug, we met it just before the first of the bridges at Genthin. On the right bank was another long empty piled factory quay belonging to Henkel. After the footbridge in the middle of town a new small square offline basin had been built for small pleasure boats to moor in. It was piled and had short finger moorings parallel to the canal, unfortunately it was much too small for us. There were a couple of boats in there whose crews waved as we went

A curious police helicopter pilot

past. A little further on I noticed another old mill that had been converted for housing, this one had some lovely castellated towers. A police helicopter flying along the canal towards Berlin did a circle over us just as Mike was telling Bill on the radio about the mooring we were just passing. He had to stop talking as we were being deafened. The mooring had signs which said Fahrgastschiff (passenger boat) but there was a padlock

Queuing below Zerben lock

below this which could be unlocked and the sign swung round so that the reverse of Fahrgastschiff could be seen - which said Sportboot (pleasure boat) When we moored there in 2001 a hotel boat arrived and turned the sign around and so we had to move a bit further down the canal and tie to some park railings. The boat yard on the other edge of town had an 80m boat called Königstein on its side slip and a police boat was out on the hard undergoing maintenance to its hull. On the far edge of the town there was a 2 km long

Two loaded Brombergers passing Rosy

length of piled edge on the left bank with signs to say it was a mooring area for class II boats, although it had tiny bollards and ladders every 20m (which would have suited us perfectly). It was completely empty and we weren’t allowed to moor there. The police helicopter came back for another look at us and circled round again. This time Mike retrieved the camera from where it was keeping dry in the engine room and took a few photos of it. At 12.30

Squeezed into Zerben lock 

p.m. Michael B went past heading towards Genthin, loaded with sand. We wondered where he’d been to load it in the five hours since we’d last seen him. I made some sandwiches for lunch, which we ate before we got to the lock at Zerben. We were overtaken by four cruisers and a loaded Polish boat from Szczecin before we got to the lock. They had to wait with the tug pushing three pans while two more Polish boats came down and a couple of cruisers, then the commercials went in slowly followed by the cruisers. We expected to get shut out, but the keeper leaned out of his cabin

In the middle between four cruisers in Zerben lock

window and called us in to occupy the space in the middle between the cruisers, who had gone two to each wall behind the commercials filling the last available space. We dropped alongside the two Dutch cruisers on the left hand wall and Bill came alongside us. The keeper filled the lock very slowly. The Dutch guys alongside us had a bit of trouble keeping their boats alongside the wall with nearly forty tonnes hanging alongside them, but neither of them complained, in fact neither of them spoke! The two German cruisers on the other side of the lock were only separated from us by a couple of feet and were looking decidedly nervous. (It would have been better for us to have entered the lock first and two of the cruisers could have tied to us, but they had arrived first and they were going to enter first. It would have been unheard of to allow another boat to go in a lock ahead of them - that would have meant that we could have left first!! As it so happened - we did! The two Polish boats left and the first German cruiser on our right was out right after him, leaving Rosy plenty of space. We moved out and the rest of the cruisers followed. We went to moor on the pontoon on the left hand side above the lock. Bill carried on, he thought we were going to Magdeburg today! There was a cruiser called Arrivee already moored on the pontoon, whose German skipper said (in English) that we could have the mooring as he was only waiting for the lock. We tied up and Bill brought Rosy alongside. It was still pouring down with rain. Made a cuppa and Mike waited to see if the rain would ease up. It didn’t. He found his chest high waders from the engine room and put his waterproof jacket on and set off to fetch the car at 4 p.m. - he was back at 6.30 p.m. Gave him a hand to put the moped back on the roof – it had stopped raining – and then went in to cook dinner, a transport caff special – sausages, eggs, beans and potato pancakes. Two car loads of skinhead youths arrived and looked longingly at the pontoon. Two of them set up to fish in the corner from the bank behind us, four of them hung about watching and two girls stood around also looking bored. They’d gone within half an hour. Mike had called in Kaufland in Genthin on his way back and picked up a crate of beer, plus crisps, bread, tomatoes, lettuce and cheese. He told me he’d sent me an SMS to ask what else I wanted in the way of vegetables, but the phone on the boat never beeped so I missed the call. He said the cruiser Arrivee (who had vacated the pontoon we were tied to as we arrived) was just tying up on the pontoon we left this morning as he collected the car. We had no satellite TV – too many trees in the way.

Sunday 26th June 2005 Liebenwalde to North Spandau.

9.4º C. Warm and sunny with a light breeze. Mike was up at seven to be ready to be off at eight. Whilst making tea, he also put the oven on and baked the part-baked buns we’d bought in Eberswalde. (Best to do it early before the heat builds up during the day). Put the pins in to set off with the washing machine running, but the generator wouldn’t work. Bill had already set off as he’d been tied alongside us. Mike replaced the large capacitor and we were ready to set off when the lady with the

dogs came past. I had to have a last fuss from six big black dogs (well, five and a chocolate one) four Labradors, one long haired German shepherd and a barmy retriever. Mike took a photo of them after the lady had fetched them out of the canal and made them all sit in a circle. Bill came back to see how we were getting on. He winded and we followed with the washing machine going this time. It was 8.30 a.m. I got on with the chores, made a cuppa and had a ten minute sit down on the stern with Mike before we arrived at Lehnitz lock. Lots of stuff moving today. We passed a

string of cruisers and yachts by the ferry near Friedrichstal. The washing finished, timing it nicely for the lock. Just before the lock Mike paused to take pictures of the skeletal statues at the site of the Nazi-run brickworks where some of the occupants of Sachsenhausen concentration camp worked. He moved the boat to the lock waiting area, then went and tied alongside Rosy. A large navy hulled cruiser was first in the queue. A tug and pan came up the lock, then we got a green light and followed the cruiser into the lock with our two boats

still tied together. The little plain clothes police boat was moored above the lock, but there was no one on board it. A crowd of other cruisers and yachts came in the chamber behind us, making nine boats plus us in the lock. There were no floaters to tie to, so we had the choice of fixed bollards or bars, I chose the bollards and had to keep moving the rope down to the next bollard down the wall as the water level dropped six metres. The cruiser alongside us on the opposite wall kept his rap music playing all the time we were in the lock. I’d put more washing in the machine so we set off again with the Markon running. Busy with Sunday boaters on the Lehnitzsee, a long flattened M-shaped lake. Pedaloes and rowing boats for hire by the hour were doing a good trade at the southern end of the lake. We passed the second Dutchman of the year (the first was in Poland heading for the Elblag lifts with three German cruisers) a large cruiser heading for Lehnitz. Police boat WS2 was moored by KP 25 at the start of the Havel navigation, where the un-

navigable Orianenberger Havel came in from our right. Its crew was keeping a sharp lookout for law breakers. It was 11.30 a.m. A crowd of little kids and dogs were swimming in the river and a coypu (South American rat) swam nonchalantly past along the river bank. I hadn’t enough time to switch the camera on before it had leisurely turned and climbed the bank, stopping for a scratch before disappearing into the undergrowth. I made salad for lunch. The washing finished so Mike took the pins out, then

we ate lunch. The hotel ship Rügen went past heading for Lehnitz. The first 1000 tonner of this year, 980T to be exact, the loaded 80m long Paula-Ilse of Hamburg poodled past very gently, hardly causing a ripple, with a couple of speedboats weaving about behind it. A cleg bit Mike on the finger while he was taking photos and steering at the same time, that soon came up in a lump. The moorings for commercials at the steel works in Henningsdorf were packed with Polish tugs and pans. One coming towards us was blue

flagging, wanting us to pass him on the wrong side as he was heading for the moorings on our right. As he moved over into the mooring place a whole armada of sailing yachts and cruisers was released from crawling behind him. There was a grand prix start as they took advantage of the space to overtake one another. Amongst them was the first FKK (Frei Korper Kulture - nudists) of the year, a naked lady in a small black and white cruiser. Loads more passing traffic as we went between rows of moored tugs and pans waiting for loading or

unloading on Monday morning. We came to the junction with the Havel kanal, where we turned left into the long Niederneuendorfersee heading south towards Berlin. Not many yachts (there was not a lot of breeze) about, but loads of day boats, canoes and cruisers. What a change from Poland’s empty waterways to this! Police boat WSP10 had caught a little yellow boat, we wondered what crime he had committed. On the left bank of the lake we spied a house with twenty solar panels down the

side wall and two big ones across the roof. A large dark cruiser called Bossi went past with a banner around its bows announcing its yacht charter phone number, a party of six was seated on its stern deck enjoying a Sunday afternoon cruise on the lake - the skipper waved as it overtook us just before the ferry crossing at Tegelost. Planes were taking off one after the other on our left from Berlin’s main airport, Tegel. A large tripper, an imitation Mississippi paddle wheeler, went past heading up the lake. It passed us again later on its way back into the Tegelersee. We moored at 3 p.m. on the quay in North Spandau by some new flats. Some

disgusting person had left a dead fish on the wooden landing and it was stinking as it rotted in the hot sunshine. Mike kicked it in the water before Fanny had chance to roll in it! A group of lads were sitting at the far end of the staging, enjoying the sunshine. A security guard with a large Alsation dog came past as I was returning Bill’s laundry. Fanny dashed out and had a good snarl at the big dog, who just stood back in amazement and didn’t even woof at her. Bill shouted at her and Fanny went back on board Rosy. Mike said he couldn’t understand why no one else was moored there, but we were under the flight path from Tegel, which made it noisy, plus there was the wash of a constant stream of passing boats. Mike went for a nap and despite the noise, the heat and the boat rocking he slept.

Thursday 23rd June 2005 Drahthammer lk to Liebenwalde.

Disused twin lock 7 Drachthammer

11.8º C Sunny and hot. Woken at 6 a.m. by a noisy load of WSA men who started up their workboat and generally make a racket bashing things. We set off earlier than the official opening time of 9 a.m. as the lock keeper was on duty and the workboat had just left the chamber, so he called us in. We were through the lock, N^o 7 Drahthammer, and away ten minutes later, following Rosy up the canal to wait for the 10 a.m. opening time of the DIY (turn a green lever on a pole) vertical lifting bridge at Eberswalde-Finow. I settled

Canalside Finow museum exhibit 

down to some chores while we waited the three quarters of an hour. A large cruiser appeared at the other side of the bridge at five to ten and sat in the middle waiting for the lift to operate. When it opened the big cruiser got the green lights first! No justice – or perhaps he knew that that side always got the green lights first! On up to Wolfswinkel, lock No 6, which we were through in no time, leaving the top at 10.30 a.m. following Rosy up to lock 5, Heegemühle. We’d just been talking about the first time we came through the liftbridge,

Eberswalde paper works & water tower

when it was operated by a very young lad, who turned out in full safety gear, including lifejacket. He had a huge bunch of keys to unlock each bit of mechanism to be operated and it took ages and ages, traffic must have been queuing for kilometres. He was now the keeper in charge of lock 5, which he worked very efficiently – still wearing the self-inflating lifevest though (perhaps it’s a rule for non-swimmers). We overtook Rosy just before the two bridges just above the lock, then stopped to let Bill go first into the

One of the Black houses (copper clad) at Messinghafen

Messinghafen (brass works basin) where there were mooring posts and landings all around the basin. We pulled alongside and tied on to Rosy. Bill asked the group of orange jacketed council workmen where the “Black” houses were, they pointed up the road. Mike looked after the boats and I went with Bill (and Fanny) both of us taking cameras to take pictures of the küpferhausen – houses clad in copper sheet, which had turned black over the years and earned them the nickname of the “Black”

Brass works water tower Messinghafen

houses. There was also a monumental brick built water tower, which had supplied a head of water for the brass works. Most of the remaining factory buildings appeared to have been converted into very smart houses and flats. Back to the boats for lunch. We set off at 12.20 p.m. eating our salad on the stern under the big blue sunshade. When we arrived at lock N^o 4, Shöpffurt, the canoeist (same one from the day before) was waiting to come in with us. The young man who worked the lock for us remembered us from the year before. I told him it was the fifth time we’d been through his lock and asked when they would be repairing the badly damaged left lock wall. He said the lock was to be rebuilt starting in September and would be closed for a full year. The trees were damaging the walls. It seemed obvious to us non-experts that the wall had lost a layer of bricks due to frost damage, there was no bowing of the wall that you get with invasive roots. Sadly, the beautiful old poplars were doomed, the new lock will be an

Unusual garden gnome!

immaculate brick construction, bare of all shade trees and will look just like Eberswalde lock. Shame. I told him so, but he was only a lad and an employee of the WSA. I took more photos than I would normally have done, as it would be the last time we saw the lock in its present beautiful state. A little way further on we turned into the mooring harbour in the weirstream. The hafenmeister was very amenable – he also remembered us from last year. We topped up with water, as did the canoeist who had ten litres, while we took on three hundred and Bill one hundred and fifty. He seemed a bit miffed

Rosy. Entrance to Messinghafen

that we didn’t want to stay overnight in Finow, but I told him Bill had a date with Nefertiti in Berlin, so we had to push on, he looked suitably puzzled. We gave him 3€ for the water and told him how sad we thought it was about the lock losing all its old trees. The way to combat tree root invasion is to insert a layer of piling between the lock wall and the trees – we’ve seen it done in Holland. He said that none of the residents of the large new housing estate by his mooring were interested. Shame on them. A small cruiser

Canoeist alongside Rosy in lock 4 Shopfurt

which had come uphill behind us went into the harbour to moor for the night as we left. Bill stopped and the canoeist climbed on board Rosy tying his canoe (which we later learned was forty years old and would fold up to go in a carrying bag) alongside. A pair of goldeneye ducks flew off in front of the boat – well, one of them did, the male did a strange sort of paddlewheeling of his legs to propel himself along, while the female flew a few hundred yards ahead and waited for him. After about a half kilometre of this Mike increased speed to force past

Soon to be rebuilt lock 4 Shopfurt

the poor bird who was killing himself trying to flee. As we passed him he headed for the bank and dived under the water and the female flew round over us to rejoin him. Stupid bird brains! Lock N^o 3, Grafenbrück, was ready for us. Two swans came into the chamber with us, but took fright and paddled back out again as the gates closed. A few minutes later, as the lock filled, we saw them walking sedately along the grass on the bare and treeless left bank of the lock, heading for the pound above. Swans here aren’t quite so daft but almost as nervous as the ducks. When the lock was full, the keeper stepped on to our stern deck to have a look at the engine.

Soon to be rebuilt lock 4 Shopfurt

The door was closed so he couldn’t see it, so Mike opened the door for him to have a look at our Perkins 42. He said he was in the Merchant Navy and had been into Tilbury docks in London and into Liverpool. It was 2.55 p.m. when we left the top and meandered slowly up the canal under the trees to the next lock, N^o 2 Leesenbrück. Another quiet young man worked the lock for us. Bill and the canoeist were having a good old natter (he spoke good English and told Bill he would carry on and paddle the rest of the Finow on the other side of the OHK, where it is called the Langer Trodel and inaccessible for us). Bill let him steer Rosy and took a photo of him

Bill's hitch-hiker steering Rosy

steering, using the canoeists own digital camera. I took a photo of them. It was 3.40 p.m. as we threaded our way along the last pound, through the trees, to lock N^o 1 Ruhlsdorf. It was full. We tied to the landing below the lock and Rosy hovered in mid-channel away from the flow of water from the emptying lock. A cruiser came down and we went up. The very pleasant friendly lady keeper remembered us too and chattered away in German as we went into the lock and tied up. It was 4.25 p.m. when we set off on the last of the Finowkanal. The canoeist set off first, we overtook him a few minutes later. We wished him a good journey. Auch! came

Lady keeper working top lock 1 Ruhlsdorf

the reply. A cruiser went past, hoping to get into the lock before it closed at 5 p.m. I made a

cuppa and we turned left at the junction on to the OHK, heading for Berlin. In the far distance we could see the back of a hotel ship, possibly Swiss Coral or one of her sister ships. The canal was busy with little boats, cruisers and yachts in both directions. The crew of one small boat upset Bill, he came on VHF complaining to us of vulgarity by the young couple on a small boat. The man took a photo of Rosy, then the woman put her thumbs into

the sides of her bikini bottoms and acted as if she were going to pull them down! They obviously thought it was hilariously funny, but Bill was not much amused. Just before the junction with the Malzerkanal, which leads on to the upper Havel navigation, a farmer was hard at work in the fields on the right bank baling hay – with farming modern gear – not a scythe or horse in sight! At the waiting area by the road and rail bridges (the OHK has one way working for commercials) were two Polish boats, a Bizon with a pan and a former German barge called Lavenburg 736T 67m x 7.25m, now under Polish ownership, waiting for the evening setting off time of nine pm. Mike made comment that the canal at 3m deep was over twice the depth of some parts of the river Wisła. We turned right on to the Malzer and round the bend to the lock waiting area in the wide weirstream. A large cruiser was moored nearest the canal and several smaller boats were spread out down the rest of the metal topped quay. Mike headed for the biggest gap (which would have been just long enough) but the little boat untied and moved back up the quay to give us plenty of room. (Ten minutes later most of them went off up the lock.) Bill brought Rosy alongside, leaving space for any late comers as it is a very popular mooring spot. It was H-O-T hot!  It was 6.30 p.m. much later than we normally tie up. 

Wednesday 22nd June 2005 Hohensaaten - Drahthammer lk Finowkanal.

Sign board with cartoons showing all things forbidden
below lock 12 Liepe 

16.3º C. Hazy clouds at first, clearing later to give blue skies and sunshine. Breezy. Set off at 8.10 a.m. with the sunshade up and took it down again half an hour later as the wind was picking up and anything more than a moderate breeze would cause it to turn inside out. A large Berlin cruiser arrived at the lock waiting area for the west lock as we set off. We were doing 6.2 kph as we motored on along the Oder-Havel-Kanal (OHK), the first part of which follows the course of the old river Oder. A Bizon tug pushing two 480T pans of steel coil went past - heading for a ship in Szczecin docks we wondered? The next boat, a loaded Bromberger barge (No 5127, they never have names), 56m x 7.5m carrying 450T, went past us as we were passing the moored boats at Oderberg. As we were crossing the Odebergersee following the buoyed channel, I went in the cabin to make tea just as a very large lady steering a yacht whilst standing up overtook us. At the end of the lake we met a Bizon tug from Wrocław pushing an empty pan. The cruiser (called Möwe) which had been moored at the same place as us in Hohensaaten overnight, 

Paddles open. Lock 12 Liepe

overtook us at 10 a.m. by Liepe bridge, he was heading for the Neiderfinow lift, taking the direct route. A Transbode tug and loaded pan went past heading for Hohensaaten. Fifteen miniutes later we turned into the Finowkanal, noting that there was no notice board saying it was the Finow – it looked like another dead end arm off the old river Oder. The first lock, No 12 Liepe, was full. As we 

Ground paddle gear lock 11 Stecher

tied on the landing below the lock the keeper appeared and emptied the lock. Bill brought Rosy alongside and a canoe followed us into the chamber. The lock, 41.5m long by 5.3m wide (that’s the width of the gates, the actual chamber is double that) filled using ground paddles and later gate paddles too. The canoeist left the keeper a tip. He’d been telling Bill that the keepers are very much underpaid – underpaid compared to whom, I asked – the canoeist? We were away again at 10.50 

Trip boat Annelise with tug strapped to rudder for propulsion

a.m. 3.5 kms to the next lock, N^o 11 Stecher. The lock keeper from the bottom lock was at the new liftbridge in Niederfinow to lift it for us. A WSA tug pushing a pan was coming towards the bridge, we thought he would have priority, but he stopped and let us go through first. We passed a small cruiser coming downhill as we went through Neiderfinow. It took us almost an hour to 

Moored in Eberswalde for shopping. 

Stecher, lock 11, the keeper emptied the lock and we went up with the canoeist again. He’d been telling Mike and Bill that he had set off from Kastel in West Germany and had paddled almost a thousand kilometres. I made a salad for lunch as we went through the next lock, N^o 10 Ragön, where the keeper gave us each four copies of a tourist booklet (think he was trying to get rid of them!!) about the local

Unusual odd-legged crane WSA yard Eberswalde

area, Barnim, in English. We ate lunch on our way into Eberswalde then tied up with Rosy on the inside below the lock at 1.40 p.m. Bill went shopping first, by bike to Aldi, and when he came back Mike and I went across the road to the Einkauf centrum where we found the Edeka supermarket (upstairs in the centre) to get a few groceries and a 15€ top up card for the D2 phone - which was down to just 

Overnight mooring below lock 8 Drahthammer

under 7 € in credit. Bill wanted to push on, to moor somewhere more pleasant he said, so we told the keeper on our way back across the bridge that we’d be ready in fifteen minutes. I used the lock rope hanging down the wall to hang on to, which was almost too thick to turn around the bollard under the gunwale! We left the top at 4.10 p.m. I stuffed the groceries away as we headed up to lock N^o 9, Kupferhammer. The vertical bars were in the wrong places in the deep (3.5m) lock, so Mike swapped over to the left hand wall and we both used the hanging ropes (thinner 

Sign board at Drahthammer showing lock dimensions on Finow

ones!). One small boat was waiting above the lock to come down and we passed two more as we went along the winding short (1.5 kms) pound to lock N^o 8, Drahthammer, where we tied on the quay below the lock for the night at 4.55 p.m. The keeper had already packed up and gone home as the lock closes at 5 p.m. Mike and I swapped the moped over from the front deck to the roof, then sorted out the BBQ gear from under the front deck seat. Mike had a few beers while cooking pork steaks and spuds. Bill had already eaten but he joined us for a beer and a natter and we all took turns at throwing a ball for Fanny.